Hopper car door closing mechanism



MarCh 1953 w. F. BATHO ET AL 2,630,769

HOPPER CAR DOOR CLOSING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 8, 1949 5 s Sheets-Sheet 1 AT TORNEY March 10, 1953 w. F. BATHO ET AL HOPPER CAR DOOR CLOSING MECHANISM s Shee ts-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 8. 1949 INVENTOR. Ml/lam f 5 01/10 ATTORNEY March 10, 1953 wfF. BATHO El'AL 2,630,769

HOPPER CAR DOOR CLOSING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 8, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEy Patented Mar. 10, 1953 HOPPER CAR DOOR CLOSING MECHANISM William F. Batho and Oliver A. Wallace, Chicago, Ill., assignors to Enterprise Railway Equipment Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application February 8, 1949, Serial No. 75,266

This invention relates, generally, to hopper car door closing mechanism and it has particular relation to means which facilitate the movement of a hopper car door to an inclined closed position.

Among the objects of this invention are: To provide for swinging the door of a hopper car to its inclined closed position through the use of a bar which extends to one side of the car; to form an eye member integrally with the door brace which extends along the lower edge of the door for receiving one end of the bar; to limit the extent that the bar can be thrust through said eye member; and to provide a fulcrum for the bar close to said eye member.

Other objects of this invention will, in part, be obvious and in part appear hereinafter.

This invention is disclosed in the embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawings, and it comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

For a more complete understanding of the nature and scope of this invention, reference can be had to the following detailed description, taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a view, in front elevation, of the lower portion of a door for a hopper car on which a locking mechanism is mounted in which this invention is embodied;

Figure 2 is a detail sectional view taken along the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view, in end elevation, of the hopper door shown in the preceding figures, showing by full lines its closed position and by broken lines its open position with respect to the hopper of a car;

Figure 4 is a detail sectional view taken along the line 4--4 of Figure 5; and

Figure 5 is a view, at an enlarged scale, of a portion of the locking mechanism, the view being taken along the line 55 of Figure 4 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings, particularly to Figure 3, it will be observed that a side sill is indicated at A above a side hopper sheet B which is arranged to carry a door closing frame C on which a hopper door D is hinged at E. The hopper door D carries a hopper door locking mechanism that is indicated, generally, at F.

As indicated hereinbefore, the hopper door Dis 3 Claims. (Cl. -308) shown in the inclined closed position by full lines. It is shown in the open position by broken lines where it hangs vertically to permit the discharge of lading from the car. It will be observed that the hopper door D is hingedalong its upper side at E. The relative position of the open door with respect to the rail is indicated by top of rail G.

The hopper is provided with a centrally located hook or keeper I0 with which a latch bar H, shown more clearly in Figures 1 and 2, is arranged to cooperate for holding the door D in the closed position. At one end the latch bar' II is pro-. vided with an" integrally formed prying lug I2 and it is pivoted at its other end by a hinge pin 13 which extends through the door D and also through one end of a door brace IA. The door brace I4 preferably is formed as a casting and it extends along the lower edge of the door D. It may be secured thereto by any suitable means, such as by rivets 15. The door brace 14 serves to stiffen the lower edge of the door D and also to provide a mounting for the locking mechanism including the latch bar ll just described. Intermediate its ends the door brace M has an opening 16 through which the hook or keeper [0 can project when the door D is in the closed position shown in Figure 3. It will be understood that, when the door D is in the closed position, the latch-bar ll interfits with the hook or keeper I0 to hold the door D closed.

As illustrated more clearly inFigure 4 of the drawings, the door brace M has an inner jaw l9 cast integrally therewith and lying against the outer surface of the door D. A corresponding outer jaw 20 also is cast integrally with the door brace l4 and a rivet 2| extends through the upper ends of these jaws for rockably mounting a locking dog 22 which, as shown in Figure 1, has an arcuate surface 23 for engaging a corresponding arcuate surface 24 on the latch bar II to hold the same in the latched position, as illustrated in Figure 3, with the latch bar II in engagement with the hook or keeper l0. A boss 25 is cast integrally with the locking dog 22 and is provided for engaging the left hand side of the outer jaw 20, as viewed in Figure 1, for limiting the rocking movement of the locking dog 22 between the jaws l9 and 20 so as to prevent its being swung past the locking position.

Near the lower end of the outer jaw 20 is an inclined shelf 28 which, together with an end wall 29, Figure 4, forms a pocket 30 for receiving a bar 3i, Figure 5, for positioning underneath the prying lug l2 on the latch bar H to pry the latter out of engagement with the hook or keeper [0. The details of this construction are illustrated and claimed in copending application, Serial No. 761,590, filed July 17, 1947, now Patent No. 2,497,284, issued February 14, 1950, in the names of Albert E. Zimmer and William F. Batho and assigned to the assignee of this application. It will be iunderstood that the'sheli 28 and end wall 29 are cast integrally with the door brace l 4. It will be recalled that the door D extends transversely of the car and that, in the closed position, it is inclined to the vertical as shown in Figure 3. The door D and parts mounted thereon are relatively heavy and-quite often it is diflicult to swing the door to the closed position from a location underneath the car. i

In accordance with the present invention, provision is made for facilitating the closing of the door D by providing an eye member 32 below the shelf 28 and cast integrally with the door brace H. The eye member 32 is in-the form of a flange which extends at right angles "to the outer jaw -atits lower end. It is provided with an opening 33 in which a bar 32, Figure 2, may be inserted. The bar 34 may be the same as the bar 3| referred to above. It will be observed that the bar 3! bears against a fulcrum ledge 35 which is in the form of a flange at the lowerend of the outer jaw 20 which is parallel to and spaced from the eye member 32 and covers slightly less than half of the opening 33. In order to limit the extent that the bar 3d can be thrust through the opening 3-3 in the eye member 32 an end wall 38 is provided in the form of a flange which is cast integrally with the door brace l4. It will be noted that the end wall '35 extends at right angles to the lower end of the outer jaw 20 and is parallel to the eye member .32. It constitutes a safety stop which insures that the bar fi l will not be thrust too far through the opening '33 in the eye member 32. By providing the opening 33 in the eye member 32 in its relationship shown in Figure 2 to the fulcrum ledge 35 a relatively shortbite is provided for the bar 34 and positive control of the movement of the door D is permitted by the attendant standing alongside of the car.

It is important to hold the locking dog 22 in its position shown in Figure l of thedrawings at a maximum distance from the latch bar I I when it is in the locked position. -The reason for this is to permit the latch bar H to be swung upwardly to its position shown by broken lines in Figure i when the door Dis swung to the closed position and the underside of the latch bar H rides up over .the inclined surface 37 or the heel; :18, Figure 3. In the past it has been conventional practice to provide a boss extending forwardlyfrom the inner jaw 19 and projecting into the path of the locking dog 22 for holding it in the position shown in Figure 1. When this constructionis employed difiiculty has hen encountered inremoving the latch bar H andreplacing the same for repair purposes. In some instances it has been necessary to remove the door brace I4 from the door D in order to permit removal or replacement of the latch bar ii when the stop for holding the locking dog 22 extended inwardly from the inner jaw l9. 7

This difiiculty has been overcome by providing .a bossor stop Ml on the outer jaw 28 and casting the same integrally therewith. In addition, a stop flange 4! is cast integrally with the locking dog 22 and it is 'sufiicientlywide to engage the upper surface of the boss or stop 40 .as shown Figure 1. Since the boss or stop 46 does not extend into the space between the jaws l9 and 20, no difficulty is encountered in removing the latch bar I I or replacing the same. All that is required for this operation is to remove the rivet 2| so as to permit removal of the locking dog 22 and then to remove the hinge pin l3 that holds the latch bar H in place. The latch bar ll then can be withdrawn and replaced without requiring the removal of any other parts from the door D.

Since certain further changes can be made in the foregoing construction and different embodiments'of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is intended that :all matter shown in the accompanying drawings and described hereinbefore shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a door latching device including a door of a hopper car swingable along its upper side about a horizontal axis to an inclined closed and latched position, a hook carried by the hopper, a door brace secured along the lower side ofsaid door, a latch bar pivoted at one end near one end of said door brace for engaging said hook, and a pair of upstanding jaws near the other end of said door brace with said latch bar movable therebetween the improvement which comprises: aneye member formed integrally with said door brace below said jaws and extending transversely thereof on the side away from said .door and adapted to receive a bar in the opening therein extending longitudinally of said door brace and to one side of the car for swinging said door to the closed position, an end wall formed integrally with said door brace and extending parallel to and spaced from said eye member to limit the extent that said bar can be thrust through the opening in said eye member, and aiulcrum ledge formed integrally with said door brace and extending parallel to and spaced from said eye member on the side away from said end wall to provide a fulcrum for said bar when it is inserted in said eye member against said end wall for swinging said door closed.

2. In a door latching device including a door of a hopper car swingable along its upper side about a horizontal axis to an inclined closed and latched position, a hook carried by the hopper, a door bracesecured along the lower side of said door, and a latch bar pivoted atone end near one end of said door brace for engaging said hook the improvement which comprises: an eye .member formed integrally with said door brace and extending transversely thereof on the side away from said door and adapted to receive a bar in the opening thereinextending longitudinally of said door brace and to one side of the car for swinging said door to the closed position, an end wall formed integrally with said door brace and extending parallel to and spaced from said eye member to limit the extent that said bar can be thrust through the opening in said eye member, and a fulcrum ledge formed integrally with said door brace and extending parallel to and spaced from said eye member on the side away from said end wall to provide a fulcrum for said bar when it isinserted in said eye member againstsaid end wall for swinging said door closed, said fulcrum ledgecovering a substantial portion of said opening in said eye member when the same is viewed from a position directly in frontthereof and its outer edge being inclined outwardly and upwardly with-respectto the irontside of said door whereby the diameter of said bar is limited and the likelihood of its remaining in said opening when released by the attendant is reduced.

3. In a door latching device including a door of a hopper car swingable along its upper side about a horizontal axis to an inclined closed and latched position, a hook carried by the hopper, a door brace secured along the lower side of said door, a latch bar pivoted at one end near one end of said door brace for engaging said hook, and a pair of upstanding jaws near the other end of said door brace with said latch bar movable therebetween the improvement which comprises: an eye member formed integrally with said door brace below said jaws and extending transversely thereof on the side away from said door and :adapted to receive a bar in the opening therein extending longitudinally of said door brace and to one side of the car for swinging said door to the closed position, an end wall formed integrally with said door brace and extending parallel to and spaced from said eye member to limit the extent that said bar can be thrust through the opening in said eye member, a fulcrum ledge REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Germek Jan. 6, 1925 Campbell Aug. 13, 1935 Hill et a1 Dec. 17, 1935 Zimmer et al Feb. 14, 1950 Number 

